Jackson Case D.A. Hires PR Firm

With child molestation charges expected to be filed against Michael Jackson later this week, the Santa Barbara County district attorney sparked criticism Tuesday by bringing in a Hollywood public relations firm to handle media inquiries in the case.

Legal experts said they have never heard of such a procedure, even in the most high-profile cases.

"It may be naiveté on their part, but it makes it look like their interests are something other than seeing that justice is done," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson.

"I've never heard of it happening before," she said. "It seems to be shades of O.J. Prosecutors are so struck by the spotlight that their vision is blurred."

In the O.J. Simpson murder trial, there were no outside media consultants, but the case became a mass media extravaganza nevertheless.

Even if District Attorney Tom Sneddon's motives are innocent, Levenson said, a good defense attorney will be able to argue that the prosecutors were more interested in image than evidence.

Meanwhile, although blacks are rarely on juries in Santa Barbara County, experts interviewed by the Los Angeles Times feel Jackson can get a fair trial there

"I think the celebrity factor outweighs the racial stuff," said Connie Rice, a prominent civil rights lawyer in Los Angeles. "When a case is very close, race will work against an underclass poor black, but work in favor of a celebrity."

A retired probation officer who heads a group that provides scholarships for local black high school students agrees.

"I think he can get a fair trial here," John H. McCoy Jr., said. "He's very popular with a lot of people here.

D.A. Sneddon issued a written statement Tuesday announcing that the firm Tellem Worldwide would be assisting him. He provided reporters with phone numbers to call their representatives.

Company president Susan Tellem said she contacted Sneddon last month and offered her firm's services without pay. After seeing his first press conference on the case, she said she surmised he would need assistance handling the media barrage.

The firm has a history of volunteerism and she felt it could help both Sneddon and the news media.

Asked if working with the district attorney against Jackson could hurt her with other celebrity clients, she said, "I don't think taking a position of helping the media report a story is being against Michael Jackson."

Sneddon has said charges against Jackson will be disclosed Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. The charges will be filed at the courthouse in Santa Maria, a town near the singer's Neverland Ranch.

Attorney Brian Oxman, a Jackson family friend, was outraged when informed of the Tellem company's role in the case.

"A district attorney is supposed to try the case in court, not in the press," he said. "It is an affront to common sense, if not professional ethics, for a DA to have a celebrity crisis management team."

A secretary who answered the phone Tuesday at the district attorney's office said Sneddon would have no comment.

In his release, Sneddon said reporters should call the firm, to "reduce the number of calls coming into the District Attorney's office at this busy time."

Tellem communications specialist Jason Karpf said crisis management is one of the firm's specialties. But the focus in the Jackson case will be "to use the firm's experience and ability to help with a media overload," he said.

Among the clients listed on Tellem's Web site are Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Universal Studios Hollywood and Warner Bros. Online.

The site includes a description of 10 services the firm offers. Among them are crisis management, publicity, Web-page design and maintenance, and brochures.

The site also includes a July 1 news release touting Tellem's crisis work for celebrities "to help turn a potentially damaging situation into a more positive one bringing the crisis to a more speedy solution."

Jackson, who has proclaimed his innocence, is free on $3 million bail. His spokesman, Stuart Backerman said he would have no comment.

The upcoming charges are expected to detail for the first time the allegations against Jackson, who surrendered to authorities on Nov. 20 in the case involving a cancer-stricken boy who slept over several times at Neverland. The boy appeared with Jackson in a British documentary that aired on ABC in February.

Charges are usually filed around the time of an arrest, but Sneddon said last month he was delaying the filing against Jackson so the county could set up a Web site to release information to hundreds of news organizations following the case.

The site, designed for media access only, was launched Monday.

A 1993 case against Jackson involving another boy collapsed when the singer's accuser received a reported settlement of $15 million to $20 million and refused to testify against him.

Some see Sneddon as a man bent on vendetta after failing to bring Jackson to trial a decade ago.

"To me the prosecutor is an issue," attorney Rice told The Times. "He appears intemperate. He's too eager and he appears overzealous. If it was my case, I'd go after the prosecutor and a change of venue."